The Student Association Congress failed to pass a resolution aimed at spreading awareness about Binghamton University’s partnership with Flock Safety and a student protest against the collaboration via an Instagram post and an SA-Line special announcement at last Tuesday’s meeting.

Despite the failure of the bill, the SA Executive Board sent out an SA-Line announcement about Flock Safety last Thursday.

The bill, titled “Resolution To Raise Awareness about Flock Safety on Our Campus,” was co-authored by Jayden Cedano, a Mountainview representative and an undecided freshman, and Rob Olbon, a Susquehanna representative and a senior majoring in linguistics. The resolution targets the University’s collaboration with Flock Safety, a security company that provides cameras and license plate readers. Municipalities across the country have cancelled partnerships with Flock Safety, citing concerns that federal agencies, including U.S. Border Patrol and Immigration and Customs Enforcement, have been searching its data for undocumented immigrants.

The resolution drew debate about the ethics of releasing the post and statement at Tuesday’s meeting. After a vote to use a secret ballot, the bill failed to pass with nine votes in favor, 16 votes against and two votes abstaining.

However, on Thursday, April 30, the SA E-Board sent out an SA-Line announcement about the Flock Safety system and notified students about the protest.

“Tomorrow, 5/1, there will be a rally to call upon the University to end their contract with Flock Safety,” the email read. “As a neutral party, the Student Association is not encouraging or discouraging your attendance at this rally.”

Blake Goldstein, the speaker of SA Congress and a junior majoring in political science, told Pipe Dream on Thursday that Congress was not informed about the E-Board’s decision at the time of the statement’s release.

“Ultimately, Congress being given zero explanation as to why this decision was made, either before the statement went out or since, represents a failure to provide the very transparency Congress has been advocating for all year,” stated Goldstein. “As we do not currently have any meetings scheduled for the duration of this semester, I sincerely wish the E-Board had made efforts to engage in discourse with representatives about why they felt this was necessary.”

On Friday, May 1, Goldstein told Pipe Dream that the E-Board said that a statement would be provided to Congress, which he said “is a positive step towards providing transparency.”

“We acknowledge and understand why Congress did not want to formally stand behind the rally, which is why we intentionally did not take a position on it in the SA-Line,” McKenzie Skrastins, the president of the SA and a senior majoring in mathematics, wrote in the statement to Congress. “However, the legislation presented in Congress and what the Executive Board sent out yesterday are fundamentally different and independent of one another; one takes an active stance and encourages students to attend the rally, and the other shares factual information about the University’s contract with Flock Safety and points readers in the direction of additional information.”

During the SA Congress meeting, members of Congress expressed a wide range of viewpoints on the bill. Ori Cohen, an off-campus representative and a senior majoring in history, expressed her concern about the SA making announcements about partisan issues, despite her personal support for the protest and interest in protecting students.

Nadav Weglein, an off-campus representative and a senior majoring in economics, also expressed his concerns about the SA making a political statement as a neutral party.

“When we started this year, and when we start most years, we are reminded to be viewpoint neutral,” said Weglein. “And as much as you can explain around this concept, this resolution is highly political. And we are not a grassroots political organization. As important as the cause may be, we are not here to rally troops for a rally. We’re a Congress, we have duties to our constituents who have varying political views, and making students aware of a political demonstration is, I think, majorly inappropriate and sets a very scary precedent, because the politics are not always going to be on everyone’s side.”

Luke Fehily, a Hinman representative and a freshman majoring in political science, responded to Weglein’s statement that the SA ought to be viewpoint neutral by saying that Weglein had sponsored the condemnation of the University’s divestment from Israel, an action that he said was “inherently political.”

On Oct. 8, 2024, the Student Association Congress rescinded a resolution expressing support for Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions, a movement that supports divesting from institutions supporting Israel’s military campaign.

Hatim Husainy, a Hinman representative and a sophomore majoring in political science, voiced his support for passing the resolution.

“Should representatives not be the tip of the grass of our communities, right?” said Husainy. “We are an organization that is grassroots, representing our students, and in that we have a responsibility to speak when they are in danger.”

Nicholas Ginsberg, the executive vice president of the SA and a senior majoring in political science, explained that while he supports the political viewpoints expressed in the resolution as someone who is Hispanic and opposes ICE, he still does not believe passing the resolution would have a neutral effect on the student body.

The bill ultimately failed. The SA-Line announcement explained how Flock Safety works and cited several concerns about the company’s contract with the University, including that the University “does not appear to have a complete understanding” of the company’s data purging process. The announcement voiced concern that the University was receiving no real confirmation on whether or not any information had actually been erased.

“Thursday’s SA-Line was meant to serve as an educational email in response to numerous requests from the student body to disseminate information about Flock Safety, the SA E-Board wrote in a statement to Pipe Dream.. The Executive Board has a duty to keep students informed about university actions that affect their student experience.

Editor’s Note: Ori Cohen is a former news contributor for Pipe Dream. She had no role in the writing or editing of this article